The National Oil Bargaining (NOB) program is a modified form of pattern bargaining that is rooted in the power of the rank and file. It has been in existence for 43 years and has served the membership well.

It begins with the National Oil Bargaining conference held four months prior to the expiration of the national pattern agreement. Delegates from the local unions involved in the NOB program gather in their company council meetings at the conference to draft national proposals that will be presented to the National Oil Bargaining Policy Committee. This committee, which is composed of elected rank-and-file members, debates the submitted proposals and creates a proposed oil bargaining policy which it submits to the delegates for adoption. When the delegates adopt the policy it becomes the union’s official proposal ... more